BLUE-GREEN INJECTION-LASERS CONTAINING PSEUDOMORPHIC ZN1-XMGXSYSE1-Y CLADDING LAYERS AND OPERATING UP TO 394-K

We describe the performance of blue-green injection lasers containing Zn1-xMgxSySe1-y cladding layers. The devices have yielded the lowest reported threshold current densities (500 A/cm2) and the highest reported pulsed output powers (500 mW) at room temperature. Lasing has been observed at temperatures as high as 394 K. The room temperature and 85 K lasing wavelengths are 516 and 496 nm, respectively. The use of Zn1-xMgxSySe1-y, instead of ZnSzSe1-z, cladding layers provides a clear improvement in optical confinement, demonstrated by the widening of the far-field pattern in the direction perpendicular to the layers. The lasers are separate-confinement heterostructures with a ZnS0.06Se0.94 waveguiding region and a single Cd0.2Zn0.8Se strained quantum well. The entire structure is pseudomorphic with the GaAs substrate.